THE OUTLET COMPANY
was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island which
owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting.
The store remained strong with its sole flagship location and dominated
the field of retail in not only Providence, but Rhode Island as a whole.
On school holidays my mom and I would go downtown on the #100 bus. We would go early to take confession at the St. Francis Chapel, then on Weybosset Street near the Crown Hotel. We would then have breakfast in the Crown Coffee Shop. We did not go to restaurants a lot the way people do now, just on Mother's Day and Thanksgiving, so this was a big treat for me. I loved spinning around on the red-topped stools. We would then wait for the Outlet to open at 8:45 (??), the earliest opening store, and walk around in there until the other stores opened. Later we would go to Read-All Bookstore across the street (also the paperback bookstore across the street) and then to Westminster Mall to all the great stores: Shepards, Grants, Gladdings, Newberrys, Kresges, Woolworths, Richleys Cards, Cherry & Webb, and the different shoe stores (including my godfather, who had the shoe shop on Washington Street near the Strand Theatre). (There was also Freeman's Stationery and the Arcade further down.) Sometimes we would go to the Majestic Theatre (now the Trinity Square Playhouse) to see the latest Disney movie. I saw OLD YELLER and MARY POPPINS there. For lunch we would go to the Ming Garden or the Waldorf Cafeteria. Providence Place can't hold a candle to the old Providence shopping district.
ReplyDeleteHow beautifully you describe it all. Why are our memories of that special time so very precious. I also write about growing up in the 50's in my blog babara rattles.blogspot.com
DeleteBack in the 1930's, the Outlet was where you went to see the REAL Santa, and their window automated displays were wonderful!
ReplyDeleteEvelyn
There was an Outlet store in Garden City too. My dad was head of security there.
ReplyDeleteWhere was the Outlet Company located in Cranston? While I worked as a stock boy in the Providence store, I can't remember where it was located in Cranston.
DeleteIt became Cohoes.
DeleteI HAD FOUND MEMORIES OF THE OUTLET COMPANY WOULD TRY AND GET THERE EARLY TO SEE THE PARADES
ReplyDeleteMy dad was the executive chef at the crown hotel
ReplyDeleteMy dad was the executive chef at the crown hotel
ReplyDeleteMy dad was the executive chef at the crown hotel
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DeleteSOME OF MY FONDEST MEMORIES ARE OF "THE OUTLET". SITTING ON SANTA'S LAP AND GETTING A "REAL" WRAPPED GIFT! NO STRINGS ATTACHED! THE TALKING CHRISTMAS TREE WAS A FAVORITE WHEN I WAS SMALL!
ReplyDeleteMy husband's aunt was the voice of the talking Christmas tree. It is nice to know that someone has find memories of the talking Christmas tree
DeleteWe just found this because my husband was remembering the talking Christmas tree. Do you know how she did it?
DeleteI remember the "Grab Bag" during the early 60`s after i went to see Santa,there was a holiday decorated sort of hole that we`d stick our hands into to reach for a gift,i also remember that long hallway where all of the children waited in line. I loved that entire store,especially those stairs,they were so large & we could sit there at the top at times when it wasn`t too busy. The Outlet held almost everything one could shop for & a tiny cafeteria with a check cashing place as well,ahh,those memories we do miss & treasure within the Heart.
ReplyDeleteyes indeed
DeleteWhen I was cleaning out my mom's house I found a coloring book of American history that they gave away at "Santa Land" at the Outlet one year.
ReplyDeleteMy mother sang as a young teen girl...before they were called 'teens'.. in the 30s. She took a bus from Bristol up to Providence each Saturday... Her voice was beautiful and the music teacher at the school, Mrs Donovan, had made arrangements to take her to NY to meet with a person who might have helped her find a career. I wish I could find out some information.
ReplyDeleteLove the Outlet, goofed up chocolates, free parking, got my first credit card there, my first color tv. Liked the one in Lincoln also.
ReplyDeleteI also grew up in Rhode island in the 1950's - saw the same movies ! Also the Shaggy Dog and The Absent Minded Professor there with Fred MacMurray! I remember the Outlet Company very well, my Great Aunt Aida (Quinn) had been Chief of Security there in the 1940's and through about 1955 or so when she retired, she was the widow of one of the most well known Speak Easy Gambling and hooch selling Casino's during Prohibition (he owned 6 actually) named Ned Quinn, who died of a (ahem) "heart attack" several months after the 1938 hurricane wiped out his very considerable savings - from under the floorboards of his casinos when they were all (but one) swept out to sea along with his home on Westerly's front facing shores edge and his er…..liquor selling "friends" came to see him about what his tab was for all that illegal liquor (Prohibition).He was buried in an unmarked grave as a black sheep in the family, he was brother to RI's governor of the same last name in the 30's and it was a major embarrassment at the time. Many years later I found he was actually nowhere near as bad as thought, he donated a lot of money to good causes including the founding of Duke University, the Lying Inn Hospital in Providence and the Providence City Zoo. Anyway - if - after a storm you find a gold piece with a strange man's head on it on one of the beaches in RI, that would be part of the (thought to be) over 35,000 he had minted by a private gold smith with his own head on them. He didn't store his money in banks because my mother said "his friends were robbing them".I had to find out much about him (my Great grand Uncle Ned Quinn) from various sources as my mother wouldn't let his name even be spoken in the house! Aida though my mother loved dearly and we would go visit her and she'd give us little gifts she got for us at the Outlet Company, or from the Bookstore or from little stores that sold Belgian Chocolate in small wrapped bars with colorful place names on them. When I grew up I joined the USAF and went to Europe and found those places and had some of that same heavenly chocolate. I miss Rhode island but am now way too old and disabled to come Home...keep her safe for future Little Rhody's though will you? Thanks for letting me post here.
ReplyDeleteYou should try to come back....we're as crocked as ever and would love to have you!
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